Montague Shadworth Seymour Moore

He held an isolated post against attack for thirty-six hours

Montague Shadworth Seymour Moore, also recorded as Montagu, earned the Victoria Cross for his leadership near Tower Hamlets, east of Ypres, Belgium, on 20 September 1917. A Second Lieutenant in the 15th Battalion, Hampshire Regiment, he volunteered to lead a fresh assault on an objective that remained in German hands.

Moore advanced with about 70 men. Flanking machine-gun fire inflicted such heavy losses that only a sergeant and four men reached the objective with him. They attacked a dugout and captured 28 prisoners, two machine guns and a light field gun. Reinforcements brought his immediate force to about 60, but the position remained isolated. He organised its defence, repelled grenade attacks and, after a short withdrawal, reoccupied it. With British weapons damaged, his men used captured rifles and grenades to defeat further counterattacks. After 36 hours under shellfire, he evacuated the wounded and withdrew in thick mist. The citation recorded only ten men remaining from the six officers and 130 men who had begun the operation.

Born on 9 October 1896 in Worthing, Sussex, Moore attended Bedford School and continued his education in Bournemouth before training at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Commissioned into the Hampshire Regiment in August 1916, he reached France that September. His Western Front service included Messines in June 1917, where shrapnel wounded his leg, and the fighting in Flanders that autumn. He later served as an instructor and took trainees into action during the German Spring Offensive of March 1918.

His Victoria Cross citation appeared in The London Gazette on 8 November 1917, issue 30372, page 11568. King George V presented the award at Buckingham Palace on 21 November. Moore also received the French Croix de Guerre with a bronze palm and was Mentioned in Despatches, represented by the bronze oakleaf on his Victory Medal ribbon.

In 1919 he served with the North Russia Relief Force during the Russian Civil War. Subsequent postings took him to Constantinople with the Army of the Black Sea and to Tanganyika with the King's African Rifles. He retired from the Army as Captain on 1 September 1926.

Moore then worked in wildlife conservation in Tanganyika, becoming Chief Game Warden in 1944. He later retired to Kenya. His last residence was Glen Thego, Kiganjo, and he died in Nyeri, Kenya, on 9 September 1966. He was subsequently cremated at Langata, Nairobi, and his ashes were scattered in Nairobi and Serengeti National Parks.